Reviews

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

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rolo7139's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

underthejunipertree's review against another edition

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3.25

Finally getting around to reading an assigned book for class, years later.

The pluralism of perspectives initially reads as a dissonant litany of experiences-- the difference in backgrounds, experiences, fates are nearly overwhelming as the bird's eye tracks the survey of Japanese women immigrants who arrive in America-- but it's only in the face of systematic oppression does a more singular experience begin to develop, its own tragic kind of unity in the collective 'we.'

siriface's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

the_fbc_paris's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

annasforages's review against another edition

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dark informative sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

haunting retelling of Japanese picture brides in the 1900s and the initial incarceration of Japanese Americans at the beginning of WW2.

really appreciated the lack of plot and the usage of multiple voices as 1 narrator and no defining characters. super effective way to mimic Americans' view of Japanese Americans as 1 blob without any individual personalities.

just wish the last chapter wasn't from the POV of said Americans but it was still effective in sparking that anger in the reader

yodamom's review against another edition

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3.0

I was interested in the lives the women had lived when brought here under the horrible conditions these women had been, Sold to men in America as wives, directly from Japan some not even passed puberty yet. The details are there, as they traveled through the experience. The are listed like a grocery list with little emotion. It is a collective or truths about the women "WE" their trip, their husbands, their work, their children, their encampment. Little details, big details. Then it just ends. I was disappointed, it felt like a warm up, then nothing.